Where does “小夜鳴き鳥” come from?

小夜鳴き鳥 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 小夜, from Old Japanese さよ.

小夜鳴き鳥 (Japanese): a common nightingale

Definitions

  1. a common nightingale

Ancestry of “小夜鳴き鳥”, step by step

小夜鳴き鳥 traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 小夜

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese小夜dark, night, nighttime; small nightwear
2Old Japaneseさよ

via Japanese

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanesea bird; a chicken; fowl or chicken meat

via Japanese 鳴く

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese鳴くto call, to make noise; e.g., a bird's singing
Every word from Old Japanese さよEvery word from Japanese 小夜
小夜鳴き鳥 — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer